Update

In case you didn’t notice, I no longer blog here. Feel free to find me elsewhere:

http://daniellemcduffie.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/critterkay

 

Looking Back on Earthday

I love that there’s such a day as Earthday!  A day where we can stop and reflect on what it is that we’re doing for our planet; both as a society and as individuals.  Where are we going wrong?  How we can improve?

Personally, I am very proud of my family and all of the “green” baby steps we’ve taken this year.  Here are some of the things we’ve accomplished:

• We started an organic garden in our backyard.  What I really love about it is that we haven’t had to buy salad greens in MONTHS!  And I honestly think our homegrown salad greens taste so much better!   We’ve also enjoyed several other veggies, like sugar snap peas and green beans with more to come.
• We’ve cut down on our electricity usage by 1) being more vigilant and turning things off when they’re not is use, 2) running the heat/AC only when really necessary, 3) putting our remote-ready electronics (TV, etc) on power strips and cutting the power off completely when they are not in use.
• We’ve eliminated chemicals in our home.  Now we make our own chemical-free soaps for washing hands, bodies, and clothes.  We also make our own chemical-free cleaning products for use around the home.  These homemade products are better for the planet, better for our indoor air quality, better for our bodies, and better for our pocketbook!
• And lastly, we’ve cut down on waste.  Because of our food allergies, we can no longer eat most processed foods.  This one thing cut down on the amount of garbage we send to the landfill every week by a LOT.  We’ve also cut down on other disposable products; shopping bags, paper towels, napkins, diapers (which we don’t need anymore!), feminine hygiene products, etc, have all been replaced by cloth/reusable alternatives.

For all the things we’ve done right this year, I still feel that there’s room for improvement.  Over the next year, we’re hoping to keep taking more and more “green” baby steps!  I’m hoping we can reduce our water usage by taking shorter showers and conserving more.  I’m also hoping to set up a consistent and more comprehensive recycling program in our house.  I would also love to expand our garden, start a vermicompost bin, and cut down on the amount of meat we eat.

Overall, I think we’ve had a pretty “green” year!  Although I’m sure we’ve helped out our planet in some small way, the most noticable difference has been in our bank account.  Being green has saved us a HEAP of green!!  Yay for Mother Earth!!!  ;P

Our Award Winning Cake!!!

Last night was Logan’s Blue & Gold Celebration with his Cub Scout Pack. What is Blue and Gold you ask?  I wondered the same thing…

A blue and gold banquet is a birthday dinner for the Cub Scouting program, held during February. The anniversary month of the Boy Scouts of America, which was organized in February 1910.  The Cub Scouts was organized 20 years later in 1930.

Why, thank you Bill Smith!  It’s also is the time of year when most Scouts have completed which ever “Trail” they were on.  This year, Logan completed his Bear Trail, and was awarded his Bear Badge!! (WAY TO GO LOGAN!!!)

Anyway, part of the annual tradition of our pack (and maybe all packs, I don’t know) is to hold a “Dad and Lad Cake Baking Contest”.  At first I was a little worried about this.  If you know me, or if you’ve read my blog before than you know that we are on a very special diet.  And since we don’t eat wheat, dairy, eggs, or yeast (among other things), a cake becomes a difficult proposition.  However, I did not want my Cub Scout to feel left out, so here’s what we came up with… and WON THIRD PLACE!!!  Third place is still award winning, right?

Logan’s favorite dessert is date rolls.  They’re just dates and shredded coconut all rolled up and yummy.  No processed sugar, no food dyes, no chemicals… just dates and coconut and he LOVES them.  So I thought, why not do the same thing only BIGGER!! 

The great thing about this kind of “cake” is that you can sculpt it into any shape.  It’s just like play-doh only stickier!  So, we asked Logan what kind of “cake” he wanted, and he decided on a Dragon!!

Here's our Masterpiece!!

From Behind...

Pistachio Eyes and Peanut Teeth...

Here’s the recipe:

Approx. 2 1.5 lb packages of Dates (pitted or not,if they aren’t pitted, they’re a little cheaper, but you have to pit them yourself)

Approx. 1 1/2 10 ounce packages of Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Stuff to add details with; we used peanuts for the teeth and claws, pistachios for the eyes, almonds for the “scales” down his back, and strawberries for his wings and tongue.

We also made a strawberry sauce (just strawberries, NO SUGAR) to drizzle over each piece as it was served.

That’s it!!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add Dates to food processor, a little at a time if you have to.  They are VERY sticky and can be hard on the motor.  After the dates are all chopped up, they kind of resemble a paste.
2. Next, add dates and shredded coconut, a little at a time, into your stand mixer (or mix by hand).  Remember to stop and scrape the sides and the beater.
3. Once the dates and coconut are thoroughly mixed together, get out the plate you will be serving from.  This will be really hard to move after it’s finished, so you’ll want to construct the cake wherever you want it to end up.
4. WASH YOUR HANDS, roll up your sleeves.  You may also want to consider an apron…
5. Take out a bit  of the mixture at a time, get in touch with your inner child or artist, and use your hands to sculpt it into whatever shape you want!  You may need wooden toothpicks or skewers to help hold things up or on.  Our dragon has a wooden skewer in his neck to hold up his big scary head!
6. Add on some details!  You could use raisins, fruit, nuts, or any other natural healthy edible thing to make details with.  TIP: some more delicate pieces may need to be finished BEFORE they are added to the rest of the sculpture.  For example; I had to construct the dragons head in two pieces, and separately from everything else.  I formed the bottom jaw first, added the peanut teeth, then added it onto the neck.  Then I formed the top part of his head and jaw, turned it upside down, pressed in the peanut sliver teeth, then turned it right-side up and added the pistachio eyes, then stuck  it onto the lower jaw.  THEN I went around with some more of the date/coconut mixture and filled in the cracks. Phrew!!
7. That’s it!!!  You’re finished!!! No baking required!!  We did make a strawberry sauce to accompany our cake, but that is optional.  ENJOY!!

One Proud Scout!!! One Cool Cake!!!

2nd Christmas 2008!!

The weekend after New Year’s, the boys went to the store with their Christmas money from Hedda and Baba.  They had so much fun browsing the toy section and picking out what they wanted!!  It was a great math lesson for Logan too, because he had to make sure that he had enough money for everything.

Here’s Logan (on the left) posing with his new toys; a Transformer, a Monster Truck, and an Army Tank.   The Army tank was to go with all of the Army men that the boys got in their stockings this year.

Here’s Logan again, posing next to the tree house from Grandma and Papa, which didn’t come until after Christmas due to a shipping delay.  When it did finally get here though, Calvin played with it for two days straight!  He still plays with it pretty often, and Logan too.  THANK YOU GRANDMA AND PAPA!!

Here’s Calvin playing with the new Airplane he got.  It attaches to the train set he already has, we just haven’t gotten the rest of it out yet.  He’s been pretty happy to just do loop-the-loops with it so far!

Here are Daddy and Calvin playing with the Airport together.  You can also see the football in the picture that was one of the other things Calvin and Logan got.  Calvin also choose a Little People school bus that sings songs as it drives along.  I haven’t gotten a picture of that yet for the same reason I haven’t been able to take a lot of pictures I’ve wanted to take… Calvin is always naked!  I can’t get that kid to stay dressed for anything!!  Maybe I should take pictures anyway and just censor them with little smiley faces!!  LOL!!

Anyway, the boys really enjoyed their second Christmas!  THANK YOU HEDDA AND BABA!! 

We miss and love all of our family… MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Christmas 2008

Christmas Tree 2008

This year we had a “Florida Christmas”.  We began our day doing all of the usual Christmas stuff, and then we went to the beach!!

At about 4:00 in the morning before Christmas, Calvin woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep.  So I woke up with him and we watched cartoons for awhile.  Then at about 7:00, Calvin finally fell back asleep, so I did too.  Logan was very patient and did a really good job waiting to open presents once everyone was awake!

Logan gets a DS game, Christmas 2008

Logan's Snap Circuit set from Grandma and Papa!

Logan surrounded by gifts!

Once we were all awake we ate breakfast, compliments of chef Daddy.  Then we finally gathered around the tree and opened presents!  We were all very happy with everything we each received this year.   Daddy had been shopping since November, and Grandma and Papa, and Hedda and Baba, sent a lot of presents for all of us (THANK YOU!!!).  So we had plenty of wonderful things waiting under the tree!  (In case you’re wondering why there aren’t that many pictures of Calvin, it’s because the little stinker wouldn’t put any clothes on!)

Daddy loves his new book!

After we finished opening all of the presents, the boys played with their new toys while Daddy and I packed everything into the car for our day at the beach!  On the way to Fort Desoto, we stopped and had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in St. Petersburg.  Then, with full bellies, we headed out for the beach!!

Boys at the Beach!

Calvin digs a hole...

A crab the boys found...

It was a beautiful day!  About 83 degrees, and perfect beach weather.  The boys played in the sand, swam in the ocean, and flew their kite.  I got to relax and read the book Hedda sent me for Christmas.  It was wonderful!  After the beach, we went out to eat Dim Sum at a Chinese restaurant for dinner.

All in all, it was a very relaxing Christmas.  We missed our friends and family, but enjoyed spending family time… just the four of us!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

~ Danielle, Vedette, Logan, and Calvin